The good, the bad, and the pony. Welcome to the blog site of Delicious Delicia, or Deedee to her friends. Join us on a journey into mare ownership, and how a mare healed me and gave me the strength to overcome my own health issues.

Yep, that right folks, dee is now 267 days in foal… Can you believe it?!
Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of updates, my laptop died mad I have only just replaced it with an iPad Air. So far, so good! Of course, a certain black beauty is gracing my background.

Deli dis really is thriving. Now she is in her third and final trimester we are constantly watching her weight. With the biblical type rain we have been having it’s been no easy feat to keep dee in tip top condition. Mud fever bad risen it’s ugly head this year so we have had to content with that but, over all, dee is doing really well.

I am so sure she is having a colt! Don’t ask me why, I would love a filly but the amount of kicking and ninja style moves occurring in dee’s belly make me think colt.

I was very lucky to have a camera at the right moment the other day. Normal dee seems quite spooky when the foal is moving, but as time goes on she is becoming more and more inquisitive. I managed to capture the moment when the foal moved and dee whickered and nuzzled her belly.

This has to be one of my favourite photos of her to date as it is just so special!

So as well as thriving, dee is expanding! She’s carrying low rather them outwards at the moment but I have no doubt she will soon look like a massive air balloon.

So, pics or it didn’t happens?

Exciting times. Two months and two weeks to go… Where has the time gone?

Sorry to all my readers that i haven’t been on for ages – silly me forgot my log in details!

ANYWAY, so a quick round up is in order? So dee is 190 days in foal today! EEEK *jumps up and down in pure excitement*. Can you honestly believe it? It only seems like yesterday we were inseminating her!. So far she has had the 1st of her EHV vaccines and her Flu vaccine was yesterday. The Reproduction vet, Mette at Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic came and gave her the once over. Shes in fine fettle and her caslicks, teats, condition is perfect. She also suspects Dee is going to be HUGE!

Im still sure dee is in foal to an elephant… I should have known with ears like hers there was some elephant in her bloodline. What can I, i saw the Donnerhall, Sandro, Sao Paulo, but no Dumbo! Oops! (sorry dee if I am being unkind :D )

Did anyone enjoy the fireworks? I didn’t, and personally think people should have licenses to throw firework parties. Dee also didn’t like them and managed to kick/twist her fetlock. So much so it turned into a canklet. Luckily *touch wood* she wasn’t lame, but with her history i err’ed on the side of caution and called the vet out (on a saturday – nice(!)) I am sure some think I am over protective of her, but in the last year I have invested over £10,000 in this mare and her future, so whats a Saturday call out fee to be told everything is ok. Anyway she was such a good girl for the vet and stood to allow her to palpate the tendons. The verdict was twisted/pulled ligament so box rest for a few days. Dee’s and my own worst nightmare! So I purchased an Aerborn Ice Boot and applied three times a day to the cankle, and after two days the swelling was more localised and all the heat had gone. This ruled out an infection which i was relieved at and on the 3rd day she went back out with her herd mates, and apparently did not stop eating the entire day!

Now, why do I hate box resting dee? Well, I am sure some of you are aware, Dee has quite the character on her….a bit like Dennis the Menace, she is able to get in trouble at the blink of an eye…

so i decided that a few walks out in hand and some grazing might help her mental state.

So far, so good. Lucky for me dee seems to be in her ‘hungry’ stage of pregnancy so negotiations that involve food seem to be short lived. Still, when she realised all her field mates were out, she did levitate off the ground a few times…. damn those invisible UFO’s.

So we did the nice calm walking bit for a while, just 20 minutes at a time so as not to over do it (or tempt fate!) and after sticking her back in her box with about 6 sections of good hay off the fields, i thought ‘what could she possibly get up to if i nip home for two hours’….

Yep, thanks for that Delicia. No, it’s ok, you are completely right, it DOES look better to have all your crap flung on the floor rather then hanging neatly on your stable. Now maybe i can find the dummy you also seem to have spat out and shove it in your mouth to stop you playing this new game. :) Blooming mares! Is it me, or does she look proud?

Urgh.

So, we *think* we have seem movement. I am not 100% convinced but i am so excited at this prospect! As we start to come into dee’s 3rd trimester (7 months) I am starting to look into the correct nutrition for both her and her foal. So far she has been fed on Saracens Stamm 30 feed balancer and Dengie Alfa A Oil throughout her pregnancy (apart for a brief stint on Top Spec but i was concerned over her condition and feet on it). Having spoken with Lizzy Drury at Saracens Horse Feed, we have decided to start slowly implementing their stud range. We have chosen the Saracent Level Grow Mix due to its low GI properties, it is best suited to warmblood broodmares and their foals. The problems I have found are a number of stud ranges are really better suited to breeding bloodstock (Thoroughbreds), whose needs are different to a warmbloods. Unfortunately OCD can be a real risk in warmbloods, any breed can be affected but if you overfeed the mare in gestation, or the foal on the ground, you are placing too many risk factors for abnormal bone growth and development. Bear in mind, a horses bones are not fully formed until at least 5 years old, is it worth the risk?

I didn’t think so either.

So i will be purchasing the feed in the next week or so and slowly introducing it. At the moment the foal is the size of a beagle and putting on 1 pound every 10 days and weighs roughly 10 pounds, so there is no real rush to move her onto the move, maybe add a half scoop to her feed and reduce the Stamm 30 acordingly. It really isnt rocket science – as i read somewhere:

“If horse is too skinny ………….. feed it more If horse looks good………. feed it the same.” author unknown

So, who wants to see her baby bump?

You know…she could still be fooling us and its just a massive fart….i suppose in April we will find out….

Namely, Amour G, the stallion to whom dee is in foal to. He is fantastic in photos but even better in the flesh. I was over the moon to have spider cuddles and meet this wonderful 8 year old kwpn stallion.

We met him at the British Dressage nation championships where he was contesting the Medium Open class. The boy did good and came 14th with a very respectable score just shy of 68%!